Comments on: Baseball is dying, peoplehttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/04/27/baseball-is-dying-people/
Baseball. Baseball. And then a bit more baseball.Sat, 10 Dec 2016 01:07:23 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.com/By: mojosmagichttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/04/27/baseball-is-dying-people/#comment-291667
Sat, 28 Apr 2012 19:58:58 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=142079#comment-291667Must have been the depression.
]]>By: Reflexhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/04/27/baseball-is-dying-people/#comment-291577
Sat, 28 Apr 2012 06:55:19 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=142079#comment-291577I know you’ll never believe it, but baseball is wildly profitable, franchises are wildly profitable, and over the past 25 years they have only gotten even more wildly profitable. Even the Rays are profitable, albeit not as profitable as most other franchises.

You keep looking at the Rays as a microcosm of the sport as a whole. They are not, they are an outlier. They have a shitty stadium in a shitty baseball town that was ill-concieved and never should have happened. Thier fans are mostly retired Yankees, Mets and Red Sox fans, and have no attatchment to the local team. This is not the case for most franchises, and even in bad years most franchises make a fortune, even in small markets.

BTW, baseball sends as many different teams to the playoffs on average as the NFL, and has almost the same number of different champions over the past two decades. Furthermore, the NFL has a wider disparity in win/loss records annually than baseball ever has, and frequently has franchises that are completely hopeless for decades(Detroit Lions, for instance, until a couple years ago). At the end of the day, when you make a statement that the NFL creates the possibility of a franchise to rise quickly and stay there, you are arguing *against* competitive balance, after all if a franchise can rise above and stay there, that means they are winning games against somebody, consistently. You cannot have a league where everyone has a better than .500 record…

Let’s talk boring. I can’t remember which comedian said it, but he made a point that the one thing man has over the animals is the opposable thumb and in soccer they don’t even use it…..

]]>By: simon94022http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/04/27/baseball-is-dying-people/#comment-291433
Fri, 27 Apr 2012 19:10:03 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=142079#comment-291433What I really love is the prediction that a dying baseball will soon be swept into oblivion by … Tennis.
]]>By: normcashhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/04/27/baseball-is-dying-people/#comment-291421
Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:19:58 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=142079#comment-291421If you read the front page of the New York Times the day after the Black Tuesday stock market
crash in 1929, the only article not dealing with the crash is a long feature about how big time
sports, especially football, is ruing college—recruiting violations, players not attending class,
academics being subordinated to sports, corrupt admissions policies, etc. Could have been written yesterday…

The more things change, eh?

]]>By: tomtravis76http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/04/27/baseball-is-dying-people/#comment-291390
Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:16:55 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=142079#comment-291390Shorter season- start it Memorial Day weekend and end it when it usually does in Oct.

Two game series on Wed-Thursday and Three game Series on Friday -Sunday. Monday and Tuesday off. Less games, less opportunities should create a higher demand for tickets.

Salary Cap and Salary floor.

Ownership review board on state of franchises. If owners have poor track record, they will be forced to sell at a price no lower then agreed upon value by MLB.

One set of rules. Either get rid of DH or make it universal. Its stupid to see the AL and NL play in World Series when they have built their teams to play to its leagues rules.

One set of Rules could lead to realignment, MLB needs a shake up. I heard a stat the other day that the Orioles played something like 105 games last season vs teams with above .500 record and the Texas Rangers played only like 57 games vs teams with above .500 record. (numbers might not be exact,but it does say alot about the schedule and franchises).

]]>By: lardinhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/04/27/baseball-is-dying-people/#comment-291378
Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:04:40 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=142079#comment-291378The success of the NFL draft has more to do with the immediate impact the draftees have on the league. Luck and Griffin will be starters on Day one. The top draft picks in in 2011’s draft Cole, and Hutzen, are most likely a year away..
]]>By: lardinhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/04/27/baseball-is-dying-people/#comment-291376
Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:00:46 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=142079#comment-291376The fact that baseball lasts long is the one thing it has over every other sport. There is no clock. You cant take a knee and run out the clock. You cant play four corners and run out the clock. You actually have to stop your opponent from scoring in order to win..

Sometimes it takes a little longer…

]]>By: leftywildcathttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/04/27/baseball-is-dying-people/#comment-291363
Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:41:42 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=142079#comment-291363Say it ain’t so, Craig.
]]>By: Brian Donohuehttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/04/27/baseball-is-dying-people/#comment-291336
Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:13:58 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=142079#comment-291336Always at the beginning of a vast global economic depression…hmmm…
]]>By: florida76http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/04/27/baseball-is-dying-people/#comment-291314
Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:42:34 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=142079#comment-291314No intelligent person can say baseball is dying, but no intelligent person can say baseball has problems which have contributed to it’s fall as the national pastime. Local TV revenues have as much to do with the national popularity of the sport as fish do with cattle. MLB’s showcase event continues to fail on TV, even with teams like the Yankees involved as compared with 25 years ago. The success of the NFL Draft proves once again, any team with good management, can rise quickly, and stay there for a long period of time as a serious contender. And that’s a key reason why football has been the REAL national pastime for some time now. REAL competitive balance occurs when ALL teams have at least the slim hope of making the playoffs.

By contrast, the Tampa Bay Rays are a prime candidate for relocation by the end of this decade. The Rays current ownership has done everything right, fielding a playoff team 3 of the last 4 years. But the asinine economic system will hold them down, unless a miracle occurs with a new stadium.

Second is that all playoff games should start earlier so kids can watch there favorite teams & players finish a game instead if either falling asleep or having to go to bed early for school next day!

Instead of trying to make even more money think about the fans?

]]>By: dodger88http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/04/27/baseball-is-dying-people/#comment-291255
Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:43:58 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=142079#comment-291255If baseball is dying then I don’t want to live.
]]>By: sportsdrenched.comhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/04/27/baseball-is-dying-people/#comment-291190
Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:24:13 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=142079#comment-291190The last time I picked up a newpaper Major League Baseball had revenues of $120,000. This new National Football League doesn’t even have a playoff! Clearly, this author doesn’t know what he’s talking about. How else does he explain these huge radio rights contracts?
]]>By: darthicarushttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/04/27/baseball-is-dying-people/#comment-291178
Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:10:05 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=142079#comment-291178These articles do have a point. With declining ticket sales, fewer players available for teams to draft, less tv/internet coverage of the sport, and teams struggling to pay players contracts of more than a million dollars….oh wait, never mind I’m thinking of hockey.
]]>By: lardinhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/04/27/baseball-is-dying-people/#comment-291176
Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:57:27 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=142079#comment-291176Dont just take Sundays into account. How many people watch Football on a weekly basis? How many people watch Baseball on a weekly basis? Keep in mind with baseball there is 12-15 games on every night of the week. I willing to bet the numbers and ratings are much closer than people think
]]>By: mgv38http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/04/27/baseball-is-dying-people/#comment-291173
Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:48:37 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=142079#comment-291173DId you ever notice that Pedro Gomez has never denied ghost-writing that article?
]]>By: spudchukarhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/04/27/baseball-is-dying-people/#comment-291172
Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:38:35 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=142079#comment-291172I’m going with the theory that writer’s who editorialize about the demise of Baseball can be blamed for economic downturns, recessions, and depressions. Hey it is just as good as any other economic theory.
]]>By: bsbizhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/04/27/baseball-is-dying-people/#comment-291165
Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:25:30 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=142079#comment-291165Good to see that article showed up early to Spring Training and not merely on time like the one did last month. Terry Collins approves.
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